You have to execute your query and add single quote to $email in the query beacuse it's a string, and remove the is_resource($query)
$query is a string, the $result will be the resource
$query = "SELECT `email` FROM `tblUser` WHERE `email` = '$email'";
$result = mysqli_query($link,$query); //$link is the connection
if(mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0 ){....}
UPDATE
Base in your edit just change:
if(is_resource($query) && mysqli_num_rows($query) > 0 ){
$query = mysqli_fetch_assoc($query);
echo $email . " email exists " . $query["email"] . "\n";
By
if(is_resource($result) && mysqli_num_rows($result) == 1 ){
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
echo $email . " email exists " . $row["email"] . "\n";
and you will be fine
UPDATE 2
A better way should be have a Store Procedure that execute the following SQL passing the Email as Parameter
SELECT IF( EXISTS (
SELECT *
FROM `Table`
WHERE `email` = @Email)
, 1, 0) as `Exist`
and retrieve the value in php
Pseudocodigo:
$query = Call MYSQL_SP($EMAIL);
$result = mysqli_query($conn,$query);
$row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)
$exist = ($row['Exist']==1)? 'the email exist' : 'the email doesnt exist';